TIEDE & EDISTYS 1/1994 SUMMARIES

AULI HAKULINEN: Now that the Unified Nation has Disappeared, will National Sciences Disappear as well? Part of the humanities have traditionally been called national sciences in Finland. In the 1880s they were needed for ideological and political purposes: to create a unified "nation", write its history and develop a language that it could use to create an advanced literary culture. During Finland's struggle for independence, this ideal "nation" was painfully revealed to be a mere bubble. This, however, did not change the role of the national sciences, which in fact became solid supporters of the White leaders of independent Finland. The scientific life of the new nation was limited in many ways and the state borders became the borders of scientific research as well. Even the last wars could not change this situation. It is only during the last few years that national sciences have again started to become internationalised in both their problematics and their methods. The internationalisation and European integration are also seen as threats. What if the nation living in the shade of a multinational techno-system found the recipe of quality of life in provincial - earlier national - sciences?

ILKKA ARMINEN, ILPO HELÉN: From the Order of Respectability to Love for the Fatherland. In his first novel Isänmaa, 'The Fatherland', (1893), Arvid Järnefelt is looking for a place for the individual in an imaginary National community. In this, even the individual's self becomes a problem: it has to be reimagined, made figurative. The book reveals the internal conflict of the Finnish Nationalist Movement: Fennomania aimed at creating a new relationship to society by constructing nationality as the basis of identity. Yet, instead of creating a new ethos it relied on a code of upper-class heroism and honour. The Fatherland does not propose any single, universally applicable answer to the problem of national ethos: rather, it responds to the constructivist policy of the national movement by producing the nation as a narrative. Nationality is real and influential because of the power of its images: they bind together a great number of people unknown to each other and build bridges over differences and inequalities.

HEIKKI PAUNONEN: The Norms of the Finnish Language and the Norms of Linguistic Control. The 19th century was a crucial time in the history of written and standard Finnish. It was then that the principles of linguistic correctness were established and have guided the development, teaching and use of Finnish not only during the 19th century but also throughout most of the 20th. The development of the Finnish language was originally based on highly practical and concrete principles: the aim was to achieve an official status for the Finnish language. Regardless of the common general goal, certain different principles can be identified in the effort to develop the Finnish language: the principle of grammatical correctness, the principle of popular speech and the principle of purism. The winner was a combination of the principles of rigid grammatical correctness and purity, which emphasised the position of linguists as the authorities of linguistic guidance. Linguistic guidance and grammatical correctness were also extended to the field of spoken language, with the result that written language and the standard language based on it have grown far apart from the spontaneously developing spoken language and vernaculars.

PÄIVI RANTANEN: Topelian Strategies for Survival. The article discusses the representatios of hunger in Zacharias Topelius' Maamme kirja, 'The Book of Our Land', and the reasons why they are still relied on as strategies of surviving hunger and economic difficulties. The starting point is the idea that Topelian strategies - perseverance and hard work - are specific ways of creating meanings for Finns and of turning the negative effects of hunger into something positive. They are not a praise of the Finns nor an observation of how hunger affects them: they are a means of making the Finns adopt certain idealistic values and act in accordance with them. In the context of modern Finland, however, such Topelian rehashing may turn against itself, as there is a record number of unemployed people in the country who are unable to act according to these ideals. We should instead start looking for new applications of Topelian ideals which would better match the everyday problems of modern Finns and in this sense, make a new interpretation of 'The Book of Our Nation'.

TIEDE & EDISTYS 2/1994 SUMMARIES

JUKKA GRONOW: Democratic luxury in the Soviet Union or the secret of the caviar sandwich. The author's thesis is, that in the Soviet Union of Stalin's time, a historically specific conception of luxury was developed. This conception was not restricted to cultural politics. "Democratic luxury" was an important part of the Soviet "good life". It included such goods as champagne, cognac, caviar, cakes, chocolates, crystal bowls and glasses, as well as perfumes, women's jewellery, etc. These were an essential part of the Soviet "good life" and they were mostly consumed during such events as family anniversaries or public holidays. They were also very feminine products, Stalin's gift to women. This conception of luxury was most probably invented at the beginning or in the course of the second Five-Year Plan. In order to provide the same goods from Murmansk to Odessa or from Leningrad to Vladivostok, huge investments in factories, transport systems, restaurants and shops were required. In the Soviet system of planned economy, this also meant that someone somewhere had to make the decisions concerning their production The article discusses and analyses the reasons and conditions which led to this decision making.

RISTO ERÄSAARI: The contemporary and the actual welfare state: a synthesis on recent Finnish discussions. The starting point of this article is a diagnosis of the arguments concerning the facticity and actuality of the welfare state. The different backgrounds of the welfare state debate are discussed in relation to the analyses and interpretations made from experienced and reflected reality. The thesis is that the Finnish welfare state has only recently become an object of historical and critical evaluation and that the ongoing metamorphosis of the welfare system will suffer from both the defence and the critique of welfare state as a 'superstructure'. Thus, it is advisable to be more aware of the political and cultural context in which actual welfare programmes operate.

MICHEAL MANN: Nation-states in Europe and other continents. The article presents the work of Michael Mann, a British sociologist and social historian, and the author of the book, The Sources of Social Power. There is also a Finnish translation of his article, Nation-states in Europe and other continents; diversifying, developing, not dying, which was first published in Daedalus, vol. 122, 3/1993.

RISTO HEISKALA: War, politics, economy, ideology. The concepts of Michael Mann's analysis of the sources of social power. According to Mann, society is not a totality, but a "patterned mess", which is best illustrated within the framework of four organised sources of power: ideological, economical, military, and political power. In addition to presenting this approach, the article discusses the similarities between Mann's and Weber's comparisons of civilisations. Five problems arise. These have to do with (1) the concept of power, (2) the status of the IEMP scheme, (3) Mann's criticism of systems theory and comparative sociology, (4) the possibility of a Eurocentric bias, and (5) the strong emphasis on organised forms of power. As problematic as all these may be, Mann's project is still one of the most promising attempts at bridging the gap between social theory and empirical studies of history.

MARJA-LIISA KAKKURI-KNUUTTILA: Special characteristics of Aristotle's dialectics. As the positivistic influence has faded, studies in the history of philosophy have gained new perspectives. In relation to interpretations of Aristotle, for example, this means that his formal syllogistic is no longer considered a more mature form of logic than his dialectic and rhetoric. Also, his dialectical and empirical methods are no longer regarded as opposites, but considered to be mutually complementary. The author outlines a new interpretation of dialectics, showing that it includes the logic of scientific discovery in two senses: firstly, as regards the heuristic rules of solving debates and, secondly, as concerns the strategic rules of finding suitable arguments. The author also points out the limits of the dialectical method.

TIEDE & EDISTYS 3/1994 SUMMARIES

JUKKA GRONOW: Democratic luxury in the Soviet Union or the secret of the caviar sandwich. The author's thesis is, that in the Soviet Union of Stalin's time, a historically specific conception of luxury was developed. This conception was not restricted to cultural politics. "Democratic luxury" was an important part of the Soviet "good life". It included such goods as champagne, cognac, caviar, cakes, chocolates, crystal bowls and glasses, as well as perfumes, women's jewellery, etc. These were an essential part of the Soviet "good life" and they were mostly consumed during such events as family anniversaries or public holidays. They were also very feminine products, Stalin's gift to women. This conception of luxury was most probably invented at the beginning or in the course of the second Five-Year Plan. In order to provide the same goods from Murmansk to Odessa or from Leningrad to Vladivostok, huge investments in factories, transport systems, restaurants and shops were required. In the Soviet system of planned economy, this also meant that someone somewhere had to make the decisions concerning their production The article discusses and analyses the reasons and conditions which led to this decision making.

RISTO ERÄSAARI: The contemporary and the actual welfare state: a synthesis on recent Finnish discussions. The starting point of this article is a diagnosis of the arguments concerning the facticity and actuality of the welfare state. The different backgrounds of the welfare state debate are discussed in relation to the analyses and interpretations made from experienced and reflected reality. The thesis is that the Finnish welfare state has only recently become an object of historical and critical evaluation and that the ongoing metamorphosis of the welfare system will suffer from both the defence and the critique of welfare state as a 'superstructure'. Thus, it is advisable to be more aware of the political and cultural context in which actual welfare programmes operate.

MICHEAL MANN: Nation-states in Europe and other continents. The article presents the work of Michael Mann, a British sociologist and social historian, and the author of the book, The Sources of Social Power. There is also a Finnish translation of his article, Nation-states in Europe and other continents; diversifying, developing, not dying, which was first published in Daedalus, vol. 122, 3/1993.

RISTO HEISKALA: War, politics, economy, ideology. The concepts of Michael Mann's analysis of the sources of social power. According to Mann, society is not a totality, but a "patterned mess", which is best illustrated within the framework of four organised sources of power: ideological, economical, military, and political power. In addition to presenting this approach, the article discusses the similarities between Mann's and Weber's comparisons of civilisations. Five problems arise. These have to do with (1) the concept of power, (2) the status of the IEMP scheme, (3) Mann's criticism of systems theory and comparative sociology, (4) the possibility of a Eurocentric bias, and (5) the strong emphasis on organised forms of power. As problematic as all these may be, Mann's project is still one of the most promising attempts at bridging the gap between social theory and empirical studies of history.

MARJA-LIISA KAKKURI-KNUUTTILA: Special characteristics of Aristotle's dialectics. As the positivistic influence has faded, studies in the history of philosophy have gained new perspectives. In relation to interpretations of Aristotle, for example, this means that his formal syllogistic is no longer considered a more mature form of logic than his dialectic and rhetoric. Also, his dialectical and empirical methods are no longer regarded as opposites, but considered to be mutually complementary. The author outlines a new interpretation of dialectics, showing that it includes the logic of scientific discovery in two senses: firstly, as regards the heuristic rules of solving debates and, secondly, as concerns the strategic rules of finding suitable arguments. The author also points out the limits of the dialectical method.

TIEDE & EDISTYS 4/1994 SUMMARIES

ESA VÄLIVERRONEN: Marketisation and the new rhetorics of research and higher education. Since the 1980's, the relations between science and society have been reformulated in terms of efficiency and competition. Universities are required to raise an increasing proportion of their funds from private sources and operate as if they were ordinary businesses producing and selling commodities. The article analyses changes in research policy and discursive practices in Finland such as ranking lists, public campaigns and 'promotional' science journalism. These new forms of promoting science seem to be useful in short term, but they may also erode the trust and legitimacy of science in society. An increasing market orientation tends to colonise different scientific cultures and change public knowledge into a marketable commodity.

ERIK ALLARDT: Problems related to internationalisation at universities and colleges in the Nordic countries. Internationalisation is now strongly emphasised in European universities. Yet, in all countries in recent years the development of higher education and research has been closely tied to national interests. The tension between national and international interests has a long tradition in the academic life, but the strong emphasis on economic efficiency in today's society introduces national claims likely to be detrimental for basic research. Criteria for efficiency are borrowed from the world of business management, without a clear idea what they stand for. Innovations are emphasised but short-term innovations made for the benefit of national economic life are in reality preferred. A selection of national centres of excellence - called graduate schools in Finland - is enhanced despite the unclear and contradictory ideas inherent in this presently fashionable concept.

HEINI HAKOSALO: From the anatomy of the brain to introspection. Three chapters in the prehistory of psychoanalysis. The article deals with the birth of psychoanalysis within the framework of three conceptual shifts, which date back to the late 1880s and the 1890s. The first shift moved Freud from the localising anatomo-clinical tradition towards more dynamic, physiologically-minded ways of conceptualising disease, a shift which is best illustrated in Freud's studies on aphasia. The most important social precondition for this shift was Freud's six-year-long stay in Ernst Brücke's physiological laboratory. The second shift was from the prevalence of somatic towards more clearly psychological explanatory models and problematics. Among the social incentives turning Freud in this direction were not only Freud's stay at the Salpêtrière, the foremost late 19th-century research centre for the study of neuroses, but also the specific demands of his private practice. The psychologisation of Freud's thinking was followed by yet another, even more decisive and certainly more unexpected turn: a shift of interest from pathological to normal conditions. This shift, with Freud's studies on dreams, memories and parapraxes as its immediate fruits, is often traced back to his self-analysis. Without denying the significance of self-analysis, the article throws light on two additional factors, viz. the normative conception of diseases prevalent in late 19th-century European medicine and the problematics of introspection, which was a highly topical issue in the German-speaking world of the time.

AN INTERVIEW OF PHILIPPE LACOUE-LABARTHE
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe (b. 1940) is a professor of philosophy at the University of Strasbourg. In the interview, professor Lacoue-Labarthe reflects in a kind of "autobiographical fiction" his route to philosophy, and throws light on the genesis of his works. The basic problematics of professor Lacoue-Labarthe's philosophy concern what could be called "onto-typology" and the ancient problem of mimesis. The aim is to study, in the paths opened up by Heidegger, the problematics of the figure (Gestalt) and fiction in all its meanings. Professor Lacoue-Labarthe's notion of esth-ethics is also discussed. The theme originally rises from Heidegger's Brief über den Humanismus and Jacques Lacan's reading of Sophocles' Antigone. The idea is not an aestheticisation of politics (or ethics): rather, it is possible, through the concept of esth-ethics, to access the basic questions of identification and psychoanalysis and to look for ethos, the transcendental precedent of ethics, instead of constructing positive theories of the good. Professor Lacoue-Labarthe's future plans include a book on Heidegger's commentary on poetry, a philosophical detective story (or a "political-metaphysical thriller") around Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus, and a book on Marx, thought and protest.